Therefore, we challenge ourselves, our faith communities and regional denominational bodies of the Pacific Northwest to undertake projects like these, among many others:
- Make church grounds and physical plants into the Garden of Eden with principles of green building design, permaculture and other sustainable horticultural practices.
- Incorporate a “Season of Creation” into congregational worship; then start weaving creation-friendly themes into worship throughout the liturgical year.
- Preaching that lifts up God as Creator, and places the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in its proper context of serving creation’s fulfillment according to God’s age-old plan.
- Christian education that explores Care for Creation in theology, biblical interpretation, ethics, stewardship, prayer, and practices of daily living. Likewise, opportunities for education to bring Christian Care for Creation into conversation with practitioners from fields of sustainable horticulture-agriculture and food systems, water conservation, public transportation, renewable energy, urban design, green architecture, emergency disaster preparedness, and business enterprises (e.g., social benefit corporations, cooperatives) that contribute to an ecological renewal of our society and our world.
- Churches, as Gardens of Eden, partnering with civic groups, voluntary associations, religious congregations, and local government agencies to plan and implement projects that will turn every town and city into the City of God, sowing seeds that sprout into urban areas like abundant gardens and food forests watered with springs of the water of life, and transform rural areas across the land into the bountiful paradise of God.
- Churches working with coalitions of community organizing groups to achieve local and regional goals that create a social ecology of just and sustainable communities consistent with this Eco-Reformation vision of urban and rural renewal.
- Churches partnering with advocacy groups to promote legislation and public policy that move society toward nurturing a sustainable, resilient commonwealth of life, including reform of land-use policy in a manner that recognizes the rights of non-human creatures to life, habitat, and reproduction so they can fulfill their God-given role in creation.
Further information and ideas can be found at this link on the Lutherans Restoring Creation website. In months to come, we will be posting additional resources by contributors from the Pacific Northwest such as this first installment written by Pastor Brian Brandt following the first meeting of this EcoFaith connected leaders who came together to help us get more engaged in this national movement. His piece is called “A Devout and Serious Call to Eco-Reformation.“